


Limbo

by asterysk



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, Dabs, Gen, Ghost shit!!!!!, Hurt/Comfort, I cried writing this so hopefully you'll cry reading, I'll write good parental relationships for the rest of yall, Link basically has a series of Existential Crises, Link has stilted speech bc that's pretty much what I get when near shutdown, Link is a huge dumbass, Mild idealisation of death, Slight zelink, Your brain just slows down so yeah, [flicks lightswitch] HURT COMFORT HURT COMFORT, does this count as whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-05-16 10:06:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19315978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asterysk/pseuds/asterysk
Summary: Perhaps the clue was in the name. The Shrine of Resurrection. It brought you back from the dead. Except... He ended up stuck between life and death. The whole time it took, drifting. One hundred years in Limbo.(Complete!)





	1. Chapter 1

"Link- save yourself! Go!"

Even if he wanted to, Link was doubtful his limbs would carry him far. They could barely hold him. The princess' hands rested lightly on his aching shoulders, gripping at the dirtied tunic he wore. Her hands were soiled too, everything of the two of them was caked with mud, and soaked through with sweat and rain.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me! Run!"

He was done for. He could feel it on some base level. His vision was blurring, darkening. It was nice that the princess cared for him, but her priorities were wrong. He could at least give her chance to escape. If it was all he could do now... Then he would do it. It was his duty.

With desperate strength, he hauled himself back up as the corrupted automaton locked its sights on them. There was no way he could evade the beam anyway. At least he could draw it away, shield her.

"No!"

She was going to get herself killed, and then they would have both failed, completely and utterly. And yet, Link didn't have the strength to move again. He spent these last moments cursing everything he could. The Gods. The King. Fate, and the Sword that claimed to bring hope and instead brought a burden.

Zelda raised her hand, and the world erupted into gold.

Link's vision never quite returned, even after the light ebbed away. He could hear the collapse of metal all around him though.

"Was... Was that...?"

It was, wasn't it. He couldn't be sure if he was thankful or enraged. He... Couldn't think any more. Couldn't stand. Couldn't breathe.

He barely felt it as he hit the ground.

He could barely hear Zelda as she pleaded for him.

But as Zelda grew more distant, something else grew louder. A different voice.

"Link- you need to hang in there. Please... For all of us."

Who was that? Coughing, trying to breathe as the ache settled into his core, he opened his eyes one more time. The world was misty and strange, and yet he could clearly see his Dad kneeling over him. How? He tried to look at Zelda, but the mist and darkness overtook his vision completely.

"Link! Please! I'm... I'm sorry it's come to this, but you need to keep going!"

How could he still hear? The ache had been replaced by numbness. Was he hallucinating? Could his hallucinations not let him be? There was no way his father could be here, he was with the main castle guard when-

Oh.

He would have died. And now he was dying too.

"Another person to disappoint" were his last thoughts as everything stopped.

 

* * *

 

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry... I should have done more- I should have intervened somehow. Goddess... Why did it happen like this? Link, I'm so sorry..."

His dad's voice cut through the silence. Everything felt strange. Link tried to pull together something that would explain things, why his father was crying, why everything felt still and weightless-

He remembered dying. Was this... The afterlife?

Link wasn't sure what he expected when he opened his eyes, but dim blue light in strange patterns wasn't it. He breathed out of reflex, but felt no air move. He still made the sound of a sigh somehow, and his father must have heard it.

"...Link?"

He looked over to the voice and saw his Dad, clearer than before, bathed in a strange light, with tears running down his face as he looked down at him with some kind of implacable expectation.

Link found some sort of sensation in his limbs, and moved them in order to sit up in this strange pool he was in.

"... Hey Dad."

Link gave him a small smile, but his father's expression fell.

"...no, no, Link... You're not supposed to be..."

"...Dead?" Link quietly finished where his dad trailed off. "Yeah... Sorry."

"...But... They put you in here, it should heal you, how are you..."

Link, in his confusion, looked down to see he had two bodies. One, he could move, slightly whispy and fluorescent. The other, solid, almost naked and badly injured, and still lying down in the tank. There were places where the two merged, but Link felt nothing where they met.

"Huh... Weird. Must've been... too late."

Link pulled his ethereal self from the strange water, not wanting to sit on... In... His body any more. Upright, he could look around the room they were in. Strange patterns like the one he woke up to- Sheikah, he remembered- were etched into the stone work, providing what little light there was. The room was bare except for the odd pool apparatus... And Link had seen nothing like it, even when escorting Zelda between research locations.

He was jolted from his thoughts as his father grabbed hold of his arm, pulling him back over to the pool.

"You're still breathing, though- look!"

He was right. What he had assumed was just a corpse was still breathing, in sync with him. A closer look revealed a slow pulse, so slow, but that made it more noticeable when it did beat.

Looking at himself made Link feel dizzy.

"... Don't understand..."

"I don't either."

"You said... Meant to heal me?"

"I followed you after you collapsed. Zelda asked the two Sheikah to take you here... She called it the Shrine of Resurrection. Other Sheikah turned up- that researcher, Purah? They were working on it for a while... I only understood some of it, but it sounded like it would heal you back from the brink."

Link looked up at the strange machinery overhead. He had heard of the Shrine of Resurrection in passing from Zelda, but it had blurred into her other excited ramblings about new discoveries that he didn't quite understand.

"...I feel dead."

"Sad to say, but you look it too."

He looked back to his Dad, ethereal like him, and how he smiled even as tears still appeared in his eyes.

Something of this strange reality seemed to suddenly sink in, as Link dived to hug his Dad like so many times before. He was sure he was trembling as he worked up the courage to ask the question he dreaded.

"...You died too?"

Link's Dad held back a sob as he hugged back tightly.

"Yeah, I did."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao I live for the pain
> 
> A medium length fic that's been rumbling round my head for a while. Not sure exactly how many chapters but not too many, got the next already written. I'll be churning these bad Bois out most likely 
> 
> (No I haven't forgotten my other fic I'm just feeling out the plot more it's comin)


	2. Chapter 2

They were sat on the stone floor, their backs turned to the thing they didn't want to think about. It complicated an already fraught situation, one that they had only just somewhat recovered from.

Link's voice was quiet and halting as always as he broke the silence.

"...What happened?"

His father sighed softly.

"It struck the castle with no warning. It... We didn't have much chance. I doubt anyone who was in the castle at the time made it out." He hesitated as he weighed up how to word his next sentences. "...Some sort of monster ambushed me from behind. Pierced my armour clean through. I... Didn't last long after that."

Link huddled in closer, clinging to what comforting sensations he could feel. His dad held him with an arm round his shoulder, and spoke again softly.

"You did well to hold on as long as you did. I saw you take down a couple of those machines... I'd bet that's better than anyone else managed."

"You watched me?"

"Yeah... It was better than sticking around that hell. I don't know how, but I could sense you in a way. It helped me find you."

The silence closed in as father and son contemplated their fates.

"What happened to Mom?"

"...She didn't make it either. She helped some people escape Castle Town, though."

"...Where is she?"

Link felt his dad rub his shoulder, the sleeve of the ghostly tunic he still wore, somehow free from the mud it had been covered in.

"She was helping to calm some of the other dead in Castle Town, before I went to find you."

"... I didn't even think of... Ghosts... Being around."

"You were too focused on staying alive to think of the dead, I don't blame you. I wanted you to live."

"...I failed. I failed everyone."

"Link." His father looked him straight in the eyes, blue like his. "I know you. Better than most people could ever hope to, I think. I know you have such strength, I've known it from the moment you were born. And I know you did everything in your power that you could. You..." His eyes welled up suddenly, and he blinked them in an effort to stem the flow. "You could never disappoint me, son."

The dam inside Link, made over years of building pressure and expectation, broke.

 

* * *

 

They had since lapsed into drained silence when another joined them.

"Perry, I've been looking for- ...Link?"

They looked up to see the other member of their small family, face a mix of shock and sadness, and eyes locked on Link.

"No... Link, no, you can't have..."

Link couldn't bring himself to say anything in the face of his mother's reaction.

Link's father got up to comfort his wife.

"Cara, It's... Okay. We've been talking."

"...How is it okay, our son-"

"Lots of people died, we died. Link..." Perry paused to look over to their son, inviting him over with a smile. Nervously, he inched over, face downcast, softening only when desperately embraced by his mom.

"Link fought as well as he could." Perry finished his sentence as he watched the two cry in each other's arms.

Cara opened her eyes again at some point, and saw through the tears to take stock of where they were. The sight of Link's body made her draw the facsimile of a gasp.

"What is this place? Why...? How?" Link's mother stumbled over to the pool that they had been ignoring. She rested her hand lightly on the body's cheek, transfixed by what conflicting sights she saw. The innumerable injuries. How the body still breathed. The bizarre machine of some kind that framed it all. When she could tear her eyes away, they still hadn't said anything.

"Link?" She prompted, desperate for some succinct answer.

When Link didn't answer, his father did.

"It's some kind of Sheikah technology. It's supposed to heal someone even from the brink of death, but... we think they were too late."

Ghostly tears dripped into the pool and dissolved as Cara sobbed.

Link looked to his dad, lost for what to do.

"It's okay," Perry whispered. "Talk to her."

Softly, he moved over, placing a hand on his mother's arm. Her crying hitched at this sensation, turning to its source with a look of almost embarassment.

"Mom... I'm here."

Their embrace this time was less desperate, more tender, like the hundreds of times they held each other before. Cara planted a soft kiss on Link's forehead, and Link found himself regretting how little time he had spent with his family in the lead up to now.

He supposed it was okay, though. They were together now.

His mother cradled his cheek in an uncomfortable mirror of her reaction to seeing his body.

"I'm proud of you, Link"

That dam had already been broken, but Link still relished how ironically, he felt like he could breathe more than when he was alive.

"Dad said... You helped people... escape?”

A chuckle with a hint of sourness.

"Yeah, I did. Figured that if no one could escape their sights, the least I could do was make sure they were all on me. I outran them for a pretty long time, too."

Link laughed too, echoing her, similarities between them deeper than the shared situation.

"...Same." Link felt a weight settle in him as he thought back to his death, and then to Zelda. "The Princess... managed to awaken her power... just before I... died."

"...Then with any luck, Hyrule will live for another day. You did well."

Link's expression had returned to that passive, empty look at the reminders of his so called destiny.

"...Why did the sword... Why did... everyone... Think I was the hero? I'm... not."

A sigh. Held back tears.

"Legends always make mountains out of mortals. I'm sure they left out the harsher bits for the sake of a nice story. Besides... I doubt Hyrule or any hero before you has ever faced anything like... That."

The tears escaped.

"Hero or no, Link, I love you. Your father loves you. But... As far as I'm concerned, you have all the qualities of a hero. Maybe not the hero people think you should be... But the hero Hyrule needed."

She gripped tighter, bitterness edging her voice.

"If only they had given you a proper chance. We should have tried more for you."

"...S'okay. It's not like... they would have... ever listened."

"Then that's their problem, their making. Their fault, not yours."

Link thought back to how initially he took Zelda simply for another ignorant noble. She had her share of bad habits inherited from them, but... Given time they realised they were in much the same situation, worlds apart as they were. If only they had realised that sooner. If only they had spoken out.

"You were just a kid, Link. Zelda too. It was all... So unfair. But we can put it all behind us."

Cara pulled back from the hug to look to Perry.

"I came to say that people are starting to pass on. I think I can feel it too... It's like... A calm tiredness."

Perry's eyes widened. "Oh. So that's what that feeling is."

What feeling? Link tried to sift through what he could feel. He could maybe say he felt tired? Though, it was more emotional than physical... Maybe he was thinking too much about it.

"C'mon. I'm sure you two don't want to stand here forever. I want to see what's beyond."

Cara held out her hand for Perry to take, and then the three of them were huddled together.

Link felt a little awkward, despite the circumstances.

"Um... What do we do?"

His mother smiled at him and hugged the both of them tighter.

"I don't know how to describe it... I think we just... Let go. I'm sure between the three of us we'll figure it out."

Slowly, gently, Link felt a kind of tug upon him. He held on to his parents as the world drifted into mist around them.

And then he felt an even stronger pull in the other direction.

It left him reeling as pain flooded his senses. He was vaguely aware of his parents talking to him, asking him if he was okay, tones rising... but they were getting more distant, and with the pain, he couldn't hold on.

The mist faded into darkness and void again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said I'd be churning them out. Keeping a chapter ahead so there's another in the bank.
> 
> Oh yeah. Lmao I love inflicting pain on both myself and others.


	3. Chapter 3

Link wasn't sure if he was awake or asleep, dead or alive, coming or going. He'd lost his understanding of what was going on some time ago. He could have been hallucinating this whole time.

His mind was weighed down by too many questions and emotions undealt with, a contrast to how, physically, he was floating, staring at the dark stone around him. ...How was he floating, again? Was he imagining it? Did everything just feel numb?

Link didn't want to go round these questions again.

Better to try and think of what he did know.

He remembered the Calamity, the machines, the ruin and desolation. He remembered the Champions making for their Divine Beasts. He remembered fighting to open the way for him and Zelda. He remembered the bodies. He remembered the gold light of the Goddess, too late for him. He remembered the pain and how it suddenly stopped.

He really thought he was dead. He should be, but nothing made sense anymore.

He was sure his parents were here, but then they had disappeared and he couldn't follow.

Had they been here? He could be still hallucinating, but they felt so real despite it all. Why couldn't he follow them? Surely, if he was dead, then...

If he was dead and stuck here, would that make him a ghost? Link dimly recalled ghost stories, the kind passed around tongue in cheek. It usually went that they had 'unfinished business'.

Was that it? He truly wanted to pass on. He didn't want to stick around for yet more of what life he had lived.

He hated being called the Hero. Less for the word itself and instead for all the things that came with it. The sneers of so called nobles. Training with no rest. How others suddenly fell over themselves to try and get his attention.

Sleep had been the best part of the day, and he never got enough of it to sate him.

He wanted to sleep now, but he couldn't. So instead, he drifted, doing nothing.

Maybe he had been in limbo for a long time before he died.

 

* * *

 

How long had he been staring at this patch of wall?

Scratch that. How long had it been in total? There was no sense of time in this room, except for the shallow breaths of his body in the tank.

Link sluggishly turned and looked at himself, the unease at doing so now more welcome than the empty nothing he felt otherwise. It was one thing to look at yourself. It was another to look at yourself moving without you in control.

Or, maybe... The breaths were still in sync with his reflexive ones... What if...

Link held his breath. His body did too.

He kept holding it.

Somehow, he could feel his lungs aching.

When he couldn't hold it any longer, his body gasped for air so deeply that it sent the strange liquid of the tank moving in waves.

Link wasn't sure if it was because of how long he held his breath that somehow he felt sick.

The machine hadn't failed. It was keeping him barely alive.

Goddess, why?

Just... Let it all stop. Please.

Link couldn't face the thought of going back. Not when so many people had already died... He wanted to rest. To join Mom and Dad. Did... Did he have anyone else he wanted to see again?

Being the legendary Hero kinda got in the way of making friends.

...

Mipha. Whether it was because she had known him before he pulled the blade or not, she had been one of the few people to treat him like an actual person.

What had happened to her? Had she died too? Had she managed to escape? Not knowing left him feeling torn.

...

He supposed he had made friends in the end. Moments of time spent with the Champions flooded his mind. Those moments, away from court and authority if not duty...

He missed them. He missed them all, deeply. His past self would have been astounded that he included Revali and Zelda in that number too. Misgivings on either side had been soothed over by time and battles fought together.

What had happened to them all?

...

Could...

Could he find out?

It was flush with the wall, but the change in stonework framed what would be a door. If he was a ghost, could he go through it?

Cautiously, he floated over to it. A moment to steel himself, and he moved through.

Another dim room, dotted with crates and chests. Supplies of some kind? This room seemed to be more of a corridor though, leading to another door at the other end.

Eagerly, he moved toward it-

Pain and aching flared within him as he felt a pull backwards.

No.

Nonononono NO.

He tried to fight against it but his strength ebbed away, leaving him gasping for air he couldn't feel.

He was halfway across the corridor, and he could go no further.

He was stuck here.

In desperation, he dove back through the door, and into the wall on one side. He had no reference in the pitch black as to how far he got, but the pull happened again.

His attempt with back wall revealed more rooms and chambers of similar construction, but the same thing happened.

Up? He willed himself upwards, reaching out in a vain attempt to touch something, to perhaps get a hand hold-

The pull stopped him again.

He sank back down, defeated, despairing.

Stuck here with little but his sleeping body.

Stuck here because of his sleeping body.

Hollow echoes rang through the chamber as Link sobbed.

 

* * *

 

Link had lost track of time again. He floated aimlessly through the air, unthinking. What he could think about, he didn't want to. So he didn't.

Instead, he tried imagining. What was the afterlife like? He found himself picturing a lush forest... With homes nestled between the trees, and clearings where people gathered. Maybe the landscape was infinite and changing, full of places to explore and things out of your wildest dreams.

It probably wasn't like that. It was probably palaces and fancy gold. But... A wilderness like that would probably be his perfect heaven.

...Were Mom and Dad okay?

Link could have sworn he heard a whisper of some kind.

He almost dismissed it as the silence playing tricks, but then he heard it again, louder.

"...Link?"

He knew that voice...

"Link! Is that you?"

He had to remember how to speak for a moment.

"...Dad?"

He hadn't heard a voice other than his in so long. He was desperate, listening closely, trying to reach out in the hope that this was his moment to pass on.

His excitement was only slightly dampened when rather than moving to him, his father materialised in front of him, ghost-like and whispy like before.

It didn't matter, he thought as he launched himself into a hug, longing for some kind of contact. At least he wasn't alone any more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is just peeling back the alternate onion layers of hurt and comfort lmao


	4. Chapter 4

The feeling of something solid and familiar felt surreal after all this time. Link had started to think he was losing his mind as he second guessed his every perception and memory, but for this he had no doubt.

His father hugged him back every bit as tightly as he did.

"...Link... We didn't know what happened to you. We didn't know where you were, we didn't know how- have the strength- to cross back-"

His hand ran through Link's hair as he stumbled on his words.

"...Why are you still here?"

His tone was pleading, laced with anxiety for the answers he wouldn't like.

But he needed an answer.

" I... Can't leave."

The hummed whine of sorrow from his Dad stole Link's breath from him.

"Why? Why not? Is it that you don't want to, or you...?"

"I just... can't. It... hurts if... I go too far. I think... The machine... Is working."

"Link." He paused, the moment heavy. "Please don't say you've been stuck in this room all these years."

Link processed the implications of those words. When he spoke again, it was barely a whisper.

"...Y- Years?"

"It's been six years since the Calamity, Link."

A part of him, his quiet facade, mused that this was reasonable. Time had felt strange here.

The rest of him beneath that surface shouted and screamed and sobbed.

"I... It's felt like days... Weeks."

Soothing strokes in his hair and on his back as his father bit back another sound, instead taking a deep, shaky breath.

"... Perhaps that's a small mercy, then."

"..."

Six years. What had happened to the world in that time?

In the back of his mind, he noted that he would be 23, under normal circumstances. A proper adult, instead of the pretend one he had been.

Link found himself mourning the lives he could have lead, had fate been kinder.

"... What's... The world like... Out there? Do you know?"

"...Lots of things got destroyed, but Hyrule is safe for now. The more outlying settlements escaped the worst, like Hateno and Lurelin. Most survivors have gathered there..."

Perry pulled away slightly, his hand coming to hold his son's cheek, meeting his drained, empty eyes.

"Zelda managed to contain the Calamity to the castle, but... She either perished or is still in there. The other Champions too. No one has seen them, and we simply can't get close enough to try and find out..."

Link found himself uncharacteristically muttering a prayer instead of a curse for the Goddess: a prayer in their name, that they might be unaware of the passage of time like him, that they might be free of discomfort whether dead or alive.

The knowledge that the Calamity was still overshadowing Hyrule sat heavy on him.

The hero's role was unfinished.

And he wasn't sure if he could do it.

Link drifted away to look down at his body. Six years, and it hadn't aged a bit. His wounds had only healed slightly, the flesh tinged with soft silver as the edges glacially pulled together.

Was this really worth it?

"...Link?"

Heroes were born again and again.

Wouldn't it have been better to let him die, and let a new hero take his place?

"Link?"

A spark in him retorted that if he cared for the Champions, he would do everything, anything, he could.

It was a lone light in enveloping despair.

"Link!"

He blinked slowly as he looked to his dad, their face full of concern. He realised his thoughts had drifted again.

"...Are you okay?"

Link couldn't help his dry smile.

"Good as ever."

His dad didn't smile back.

"Link, I... I can't stay much longer."

Panic and fear ignited within the depths of Link's soul.

"Don't- Don't leave me alone."

"Link-"

He was cut off as Link grasped hold of him as if a lifeline.

"Please, I don't want to be alone again, why can't you stay-"

"Link! I'll come back, I'll bring others... But I can't stay. I... Don't belong here any more. I had to fight my way back in the first place, and it feels wrong... I can't hold on much longer."

Link could feel his grip weakening as his father faded again.

"I'll come back, just hang on a little longer..."

Link listened for more , and when it didn't come, he screamed against the silence.

 

* * *

 

Link had accomplished a kind of dreamlike state. The lack of true sensation made it easy to fill in the gaps. He dreamt of sand under him, warm sun on him, and a soft sea breeze. The ocean lapped the shore in time to his breath, and seagulls circled overhead.

The sand was soft and pale, sinking under his feet as he walked along. Shells were dotted around, little intricate gems of all shapes. One caught his eye, spiralled and banded, but as he reached for it the unseen hermit crab that wore it skittered away. He smiled as he watched it join the waves.

He let his sense of time ebb and flow like the tide without trying to control it. The day turned to night around him as he walked onwards. Rock pools stretched out in front of him now, each a little world of life. Sea plants and anemones glowed softly, illuminating the water a dim blue-green. Tiny fish darted between cover, creating swirls of silver where they went.

Link looked up to find the same light blooming in the vast ocean, revealing corals and shoals of fish that stretched on into the horizon.

He had never been a good swimmer, but the waves called to him. He could never resist a world so vast and beautiful, so full of life- so he walked seawards. The water soothed aches he hadn't noticed and eased gravity's pull. Fish brushed against him, feeling like silk, beckoning him further.

Onwards, onwards, into the ocean's embrace. The wave-swell was coming up to his chest now, and Link let his feet lift from the sand, submitting himself to it all. Two, three more swells was all it took, and his world dissolved into seafoam.

 

* * *

 

A touch roused him from his dreaming. His eyes came into focus, looking up at his mother's sad smile.

"Hey there, little acorn... I missed you."

"You've... not called me that... For a long time."

She reached for his limp hand and kissed it softly.

"Missed opportunities... Things got in the way of us. Things still are." Cara sighed, rubbing a circle on Link's hand with her thumb. "Your father told me the situation. How have you been?"

"... Alright. I figured out... how to dream again. Feels better."

"I'm glad to hear that. Your father was distraught at leaving you behind, but if it means you may yet live..."

"I'm not sure if... I want to."

"Link, few ever get a second chance like that. I said before I wished that the world had given you a chance to be... Yourself, not what they thought you should be. This could be that chance."

"... I want to be with you."

"As do we, Link, but... Children should outlive their parents. You're still so young. Isn't it worth at least trying?"

Link didn't know how to respond to that.

"Think of it this way. We'll be waiting for you, whenever the time does come."

"... What's it like in the afterlife?"

Cara chuckled lightly.

"A little hard to explain. There's so many places, and it's like... A maze of wonders. There's people like us, and fantastical spirits too, and... I'm not sure how to describe it further. It's... Healing."

"... Sounds better than I expected."

Somehow, this small hint of paradise gave him strength.

"Maybe... I'll try."

"That's all the world can ask of you."

They stayed like this, mother and son, until Cara couldn't stay any longer - and this time, when it came for the silence to close in, Link felt content to drift back into his dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got distracted today so not as much done but I already had chapter 4 so hey  
> Fic is shaping up to be 8-10 chapters long like initially predicted, so about halfway there~  
> Mmmmm pain.


	5. Chapter 5

The next however-long was surprisingly calm for Link. His newly recovered ability to dream if not exactly sleep helped him bide the passing years, and the time between visitors. His parents had made the bulk of them, but they were starting to bring others along, too.

People like those he had come to know from his time spent around the castle, like Renée (The soft-spoken, adopted daughter of the entire Maid detail, who had always cheered on his sparring sessions when she could), and Enzo (a quartermaster for the Royal Guard, a confidante of sorts at times, and often said sparring partner).

People like the Zoras he had grown up knowing, those unfortunate enough to get caught in the open and away from the domain, like Talsi (The reason he wore earrings; she had always liked to give him trinkets after seeing how his eyes glittered for them when he was younger), and Dennec (honestly a bit of a knucklehead, and that was coming from him - they'd played back when Link had time do so).

People like Ula, and Tengo, and Minki...

...Link came to correct his prior assertions otherwise: He did have friends after all. He slipped easily into old rapport, finding his voice, halting as it was. They talked, about small things, big things, the outside world, the afterlife. They all had to go before long, but not before each wishing him well, and promising to meet again.

He may have found it hard to cross paths with old friends as he journeyed, but Link mused that he had a tendency to make even more friends as he went.

 

* * *

 

The calm could last only so long, for there were those he was less than pleased to see again.

He had been content, dreaming of flight through the clouds when he felt presences nearby. Two familiar, one he was unsure of. The newcomer cleared their throat, which was unnecessary in more than one way. Something seemed off and tense... Link felt his heart plummet when he cracked open his eyes to see who they were.

Mom and Dad were there, but the visitor they had brought was none other than King Rhoam. In some ways, his ghostly aspect made him appear all the more regal.

Old anxiety flooded him, stealing his voice and paralysing his mind.

His parents noticed the reaction, but didn't move beyond a small, sad smile. They were as uneasy as him.

The King approached. The times where he'd been this close before had always left him feeling hollow for days.

"Hello again, Link."

After all that happened, a Hello like... It was nothing.

"I... Apologise for intruding like this."

Link just stared at the floor.

"I have been informed of your... Predicament. To be trapped here for so long must take its toll."

Took him this long to spare a thought for others. Honestly, everything was almost okay until he showed up.

"I wanted to ask... What happened with you and Zelda on that day? My daughter is out of reach, and I..."

Link couldn't truly structure his rage into words, but there was too much to hold back. He muttered something under his breath.

"It's a bit late now."

Rhoam froze, and then the steel facade of a King took over.

"Speak up. I can't hear you."

Link laughed, a manic edge taking hold, tearing through practiced silence like paper.

"You can't even make small talk without starting giving orders, can you?"

Link heard his father hiss his name, but he couldn't care any longer.

Rhoam's voice was ice to Link's thunder.

"Watch your words, boy."

Link snapped, another bolt unleashed from the storm within.

"Or what? You'll execute me? Look at us! We're dead! We're all DEAD!"

It was Rhoam's turn to be paralyzed, in fear and shock at the once quiet knight's outburst.

"...Enough of a kid to have no say, enough of an adult to be made into a weapon... and for all the royal pretence, you treated Zelda exactly the same."

Link's eyes met Rhoam's, for perhaps the first true time, and Rhoam saw something ancient.

"I'm more than a hand to hold a sword. Zelda's more than a tool. You want to apologise? Get a grip, first."

The storm still crackled, still charged and thunderous, leaving Rhoam helpless against this force of nature unleashed upon him.

"Maybe if you hadn't spent your time breaking us, we might have been ready. Hyrule might have survived."

Link wasn't sure where this was all coming from, but it cleared the pressure in his soul.

"I have an order of my own to give: Get. Out."

When there was no movement, the storm expended itself in one last thunderous show.

"I SAID GET OUT!"

Rhoam moved back. For the first time Link could think of, he looked small.

"...As you wish."

With that, he turned and left, moving past the stunned pair of witnesses, phasing through the door and into the world Link was barred from.

...

Stunned silence was left in the storm's wake, as the tears began to fall.

Link passively watched through the tears as his father made a quiet excuse and followed Rhoam.

Cara stayed as still as Link for what seemed like an eternity, unable to process what she had just seen.

Slowly, the tears softened Link's face and stance, until he felt like he could speak again.

"I don't know... who I am any more. I try and think... but all I can... remember... is feeling empty. Just... Empty. That's not me. I know it's not. The emptiness... scares me. I know I'm... A person. I'm real. I'm not... Just a thing."

The rain fell heavy.

 

* * *

 

Link's dreams took on a different form after that.

Something had been dredged up from the depths, and it bled into every aspect. Until now, Link's dreams had been solitary. Now, figures started appearing. They were indistinct, blurred, unsettling in that they felt familiar and yet they simply weren't.

They were familiar to the Link of the dream however. At some point he had lost control of the dream, becoming the spectator to events, as his dream-self went about its business.

He dreamt of places and things he knew were real, and those he knew couldn't be.

He dreamt of floating islands in the sky, of being so small, of being many. He dreamt of a forest full of children and fairies, and time bending around him. That same sense of time remained as he dreamt more, of a moon crashing down. It stayed a constant as his dreams spiralled on, dreaming of wind and ocean, of twilight and shadow, of split time and worlds. Things became less distinct, more intertwined. Patterns repeated. Time crossed. The same people appeared, over and over.

In time, he slipped into sync with his dream-selves. They were different, but also so similar. To each other. To himself.

In time, he became them. He could see the people more clearly now, remembered their names, their histories-

History. It was different at first, so he hadn't realised- but this was history, made living and now. Myths and legends in some cases, but they fit.

Part of him wondered if this was all just anxiety and stress playing on him. These were the Hero's legends. The things he hadn't lived up to.

That thought didn't fit. The dreams felt real, mortal, not like the almost divine aspect the retellings had taken on.

He wrest control from the dream for the first time, and he looked at his reflection.

It was him.

And not him.

So many faces simultaneously.

And all but him wearing Hero's green, the green he had refused to wear due to what it had meant.

But their tunics were simple cloth, torn, muddied.

Like his had been.

Link realised, and the emptiness was flooded with memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3c


	6. Chapter 6

What was happening to him?

It felt like his mind was tearing apart as it was flooded, drowned with memories that weren't his. They weren't him, they were his dreams, but they were so many different lifetimes of vivid memory and it all made no sense, and it hurt.

It hurt as he remembered centuries all at once, all the emotion and sensation of lives lived to conclusion.

It hurt as he remembered love and loss in equal measure, in the same breath.

He remembered living and dying over and over and over-

Why was he experiencing the life of every Hero that had ever been? What purpose did it serve to put him through this? He didn't understand, and he shouted into every plane he could in desperation, for someone, anyone to help.

He hadn't expected so many to answer immediately.

The small chamber became almost crowded as spirits materialised around him, myriad in diversity, those he recognised immediately and those that felt vaguely familiar. Most held back however, as Link's parents rushed to his side.

They stopped just short of physical comfort as Link's form flickered, shifting in features fluidly until it all averaged into an indistinct mix - something otherworldly, infused with a soft gold light along with vivid green roiling wisps of soulfire.

His parents were talking to him and each other, they were the only voices Link could pick out in the chorus of so many voices, both out there and in his head.

"-hang in there-"

"-he shouldn't be remembering-"

"-it'll calm down-"

"-never seen it like this-"

"-the memories will slow-"

...The memories were starting to slow. They were still too much to properly process, but Link could actually start sorting out the disjointed nature of them all. Those that were of the same people, years apart, those who were family, those who were friends who had helped him so much...

Those who were here now, and who had come when he called.

The outwardly expressed turmoil of his soul started to calm as Link looked around the room. He recognised everyone on some level, and they each looked back at him with familiarity and concern.

"Link? How are you feeling now?"

That he could actually hear his mother speak emphasised just how things had quietened. Link turned to her, and he could sense something about her that had always been there in hindsight, simply unnoticed.

"... Really confused."

It was like what he had experienced in the dream when looking at himself. There was her face on the surface, but underneath were more faces, ones that he also knew somehow. His father was much the same, and Link could almost picture them- no, he could remember them. A sky knight's uniform for each of them, a different colour for different classes...

"We were wondering if you would remember too, given that you're not... totally dead."

"...I don't... understand." The lack of solid answers, teased just out of reach for him, were wearing on him. "...Please just tell me."

His parents looked unsure of how to say it, explain it, and Link appreciated their concern but he just needed to know now, it felt like holding his breath in anticipation and he couldn't take much more.

A girl dressed in green, with hair to match, worked her way past the gathered spirits to get to Link. She smiled, and Link was hit with another swell of memory.

"Do you know my name?"

As the swell subsided, Link found it came to him so easily.

"... You're Saria."

Her eyes brightened, a strange mix of joy and sadness.

"Do you remember the Kokiri?"

"I... Of course I do." Link grinned as unknown to him, his form shifted closer to the one Saria was most familiar with, sharper features and dressed in forest green. "How... How did I forget?"

"It's what happens when someone starts a new life. You forget the old ones so you can start fresh."

"Old... Lives...? Oh." The last part of him that had been resisting the memories gave in as he realised the truth of his existence. Link finally noticed the now different clothes he was wearing, grimacing as he examined the green tunic he still didn't feel comfortable with, even with new, old memories.

A moment later and he was back to wearing the blue Champion's Tunic and his regular form with it. He took a moment to run over his original memories, grounding and reassuring himself that he was still the same person. It felt a little funny now that he thought back to near past, so convinced that he wasn't, well, you know...

Funny maybe wasn't the right word. Ironic? Maybe even tragic.

"Okay, I get it now. I remember. Still feels weird though."

Some of the gathered spirits withdrew upon hearing this, not wanting to overwhelm if there was little to help with. Link's dad finally felt that it was okay for him, that he wouldn't make things worse, and placed a hand on Link's arm.

"You had us really worried there, remembering doesn't normally affect you that badly."

Link sighed and smiled wryly.

"Eh, I spent the last however many years convincing myself that there was some mistake somewhere. I still can't quite believe it...." Link looked at his hands, noticing the subtle differences between them now and then. It was like... Having been blinkered, and then suddenly you could see everything. His awareness had expanded ten, a hundred-fold, and yet it was all still part of him.

"Anyway, I'm going to address the Hinox in the room: I'm getting that we knew each other before you were my dad?"

Perry raised an eyebrow, half teasing, half questioning.

"Thought you said you remembered?"

"I remembered centuries all at once, gimme a break... But, I think I do know... at least one lifetime, back in Skyloft? Back at the start..."

"...Pipit. That was my name back then." He smiled wistfully, and gestured to Link's mother. "And Cara was Karane. And before you ask, no, we didn't intend to end up as your parents of all people."

"And here I thought you liked being my parents... Am I that awful a kid?" Link pouted comically and folded his arms.

"Do you really want an answer to that?" Cara broke the mock seriousness with a laugh. "No, maybe we didn't plan it, but we wouldn't change it. At all, for anything. Back then doesn't factor in... we're still your mom and dad first and foremost."

"Thanks... but still a little weird if you think about it."

"Life's weird." Cara shrugged, and poked Link in a teasing manner. "You're weird. Seriously though, in case you hadn't realised, nobody else is living life after life full of fighting whatever is threatening the world this time around. Well, except maybe Zelda..."

Zelda. Of course. The only other who was there in some way every single time. He could see how others appeared at times, but Zelda was essentially the only true constant in his lives. Not even the Master Sword could claim that. His memories took a bittersweet edge as he thought of the Zelda he had known most recently, how they had butted heads and argued when they had been so close so many times before, different each time but that same connection. Close...

"Are you okay?"

"Um. Sorry. Just... Remembering... Did me and Zelda really get married a couple of times?"

Link's parents looked at each other and laughed.

"Yeahhhh, you kinda did..."

Link just stared into space.

"That's... Okay. Sure, okay. I was only seventeen and now I'm remembering being like, fifty and married. This... This is fine. Totally fine." Link stopped floating for the first time in so long, and actually sat on the floor to process his newly rediscovered memories. "... I never really thought about having a life after saving the world or whatever."

Saria moved forward to speak again, height meaning that she wasn't too far from Link's sat down eye level.

"You have a life before and during whatever hero things you find yourself doing, and it's the least you deserve to have an after too. We..." Saria paused to gesture around to those still present and hanging back. "We all just want you to be happy."

Link looked around again. Looking over the faces, the names came so easy now. Medli, Ruto, Ilia, Darunia, Groose, Aryll, Nabooru, Linebeck, Malon...

He wiped his eye with the back of his glove, grinned, and waved to the gathered.

"Hi everyone... It's good to see you all again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this took a bit because 1) complicated feelings 2) Cadence Of Hyrule happened for hours at a time and it's GR8. 3) too many fic ideas not enough focus yeet


	7. Chapter 7

Link lost track of time again, for the best reason yet. He had lifetimes worth of friends to catch up with. No sooner than one group had to return to the beyond, more dropped in - It seemed word had gotten round.

He might not have been able to cross over himself, but this was the next best thing. He was so far from alone now, he'd eventually had to assert himself and ask for some quiet for a bit.

In his reclaimed peace, he found he missed the outside world. The trees, the ocean, the sky. Memory and dream only satisfied so much; In some ways, the new memories made him miss it all more. He had experience now of life beyond the honestly miserable few years in the run up to the Calamity. By the goddesses, if there was one thing he had now, it was experience.

He'd gone from a hurting teenager to someone... Dare he say, ancient?

He had memories from before Hyrule even existed. He remembered key events of history perfectly, mostly because he had been there, a part of it. For all of the magic, divine power and fate he had been subject to...

He still felt like Just Link.

Old as balls, perhaps, but he wasn't any different in his core. He loved adventure, and the discovery that came with it. He had an undeniable love of shiny things, that had gotten him into trouble plenty of times. He loved animals, from horses to lizards, to bugs and dogs...

He craved freedom. Freedom to choose, to live, to breathe.

All those stories had dressed him up as someone more like an abstract, fictionalised ideal, more suitable for nobility and royalty.

That wasn't him at all. At his very centre, he knew two things. One, he would protect this world with everything he had. And two, he didn't take himself seriously in the slightest. With any luck, he'd be saving the world and looking like an idiot the whole time for as long as the world needed saving.

Maybe that was why he had continued to wear that fucking hat for so long. It looked stupid. There, he said it. Okay, next time, he'd at least look like a cool idiot.

Next time.

The weight of that thought suddenly registered. Link, for the first time in a long while, stopped ignoring his sleeping body in the centre of the room and looked down at himself.

A body for him to go back to.

He still hadn't aged, but there was finally a sign of time passing in that his wounds had actually begun to properly heal. He had stopped asking how long it had all been once it passed the twenty five year mark, but it confused Link that it seemed to take so long to heal him. Surely something so advanced that it could halt age, keep a body alive against all odds... Surely a few wounds would be trivial.

Quietly, carefully, fearfully... Link reached out, and placed his ghostly hand on the bare skin of his chest.

His heartbeat quickened, and he could feel it both under his hand and in his chest. The base sensation of life was almost overwhelming. At his touch, silver-blue magic sped up too, making wounds that had lingered for decades melt away into scar tissue.

Ah. So that was why.

He had given in to death and hopelessness in such a way that he had held the machine back. It couldn't do its job properly if its occupant had no will to live.

Link pulled back. He... Wasn't ready yet. He needed to think about it.

 

* * *

 

"Are you taking visitors again yet?"

Link roused at the voice to see Saria, looking up at him with a shy smile. He righted himself from his reclining position and floated to more her level.

"Even if I wasn't, I'd make an exception for you, y'know?"

Saria giggled, and bobbed in the air.

"If you still want quiet, I wouldn't blame you... It got quite busy there, didn't it?"

"Yeah, it did. It was good to see everyone again - It's good to see you again. Sorry you got kinda caught in the middle."

"Hehe, I'm used to it. I'm not the most... imposing person."

"Hmm." Too many people overlooked the small, the young, and the quiet. "Doesn't make it all okay. You're fine as you are."

"Didn't say I was going to change anything! You, on the other hand... You're tall! And your hair!"

"... You're probably the first person to ever say that I'm tall..." Link smiled even as recent memory of being the butt of jokes among the Guard surfaced. "...Saria? Can I ask you a few things?"

"Of course, what about?"

"... I've got all my memories again, but... Well, they don't make sense. My lives contradict each other... And there's smaller inconsistencies too."

Saria looked to the floor, suddenly forlorn.

"The effects of meddling with time, the ones we didn't predict."

"...What actually happened?"

"Time fractured under the strain. Most people don't notice, but to those attuned... Well. You can see it for yourself."

"...Huh. I can remember it all though."

"Because they all happened. And now, time is... Mixing back together? It's strange, and I'd be lying if I said I knew."

"... Why do I get the feeling that I'm gonna have to sort it all out in the future?" Link grinned.

"Probably because you will. You don't know how to stay out of trouble." Saria only just hid the laughter in her voice.

"Excuse you. I am subject to the whims of Fate, and Fate finds it funny to dump me into the worst situations."

"Oh sure, blame it on Fate and not your recklessness."

"Pfft, what am I for if not entertainment for the gods?"

Saria levelled a look at Link, joking put aside for the moment.

"Don't be getting like that again, Link. You matter."

Link's smile faltered, and he sighed, realising he had let the bitter edge through.

"... Yeah. Okay, sorry... Thanks."

"Any time." Saria smiled, the affection of centuries of friendship shining through. "Besides, you've got at least one goddess looking out for you."

"... I... I do?"

"Yeahhhh..." Saria affixed Link with a look of humoured disbelief. "Zelda, remember?"

"Zelda's a goddess?!" Link practically squeaked with shock.

In response to this, Saria started laughing so hard she almost did somersaults in the air.

"Oh... Oh my... You hadn't put it together yet... Look, I'll break it down for you. Zelda is in the same pattern of reincarnation as you, right?"

"Yeah..."

"And it's the same Zelda every time, like it's the same you..."

"Uh-huh..."

"And right at the start? Skyloft? You two told me all about this, this came from you! Zelda was Hylia before then!"

"What." Link looked like his head would implode as Saria resumed laughing. "How... What?! I... I was just getting used to the fact that we'd been married, now she's a goddess?!"

Saria wiped a tear from her eye.

"Oh, we need to keep talking... I need to find out every crazy detail you don't know yet."

Link just held his head in his hands.

"How many crazy details can there be?"

"Oh, a lot."

That mischievous look on her face filled Link with dread.

 

* * *

 

It was like he had broken a seal, because now he found it hard to ignore his sleeping body like before. He had managed to block out the quiet breaths before by virtue of them being in sync with his ghostly ones, but now he was painfully aware of the fact that the sound came from over there.

He had been caught up in the euphoria of remembering his past lives, that he had essentially forgotten his most recent one.

Now came the crash back down.

He was ancient, maybe, but he was still just a teenager in many aspects. His past lives were, well, the past. He was the person sleeping there, an inch from true death.

He had a lot in common with his past lives, but he had changed each time, and with every year, month, week, day... He changed more. That was life.

He still disliked the idea of wearing green. Not out of animosity towards past... Him's... But because of what others had made of it. They'd stripped the personal meanings from it all to replace it with their fiction.

He liked his hair long. It was one of the few things he had always had control over. The other guards, soldiers, had made fun of it, didn't understand it, said he needed it short like them. They could never get close enough to do anything about it.

He loved to cook. He'd always loved food, and he'd always liked making things, but somehow the two hadn't mixed before. It had come from multiple sources: His mom, time in Zora's Domain, time spent in barracks and on the road where if there was one thing he could do, one thing he could enjoy, it was going to be good food.

A new life was a chance to start afresh.

Maybe... He'd get a second chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dabs  
> We entering the endgame kiddos ;D  
> I can see... Two or three more chapters. Probably three as I'll find another thing I wanna stick in there and that'll tip it over into a round ten chapters. That has an appeal in itself :3c


	8. Chapter 8

He needed to prepare himself for going back.

Link had spent so long like this, stuck here as a spirit, that it was becoming his norm. Despite how much he had started craving life again, he doubted he could bring himself to go back just right now... especially given the brief glimpse he had gotten earlier.

Besides, he had people to say goodbye to first.

It was with his parents that he began to broach the subject.

"How long has it been, now?"

Cara looked at him questioningly.

"After the last time, you told us not to tell you regardless of what you said... Remember?"

Link shuffled, looking away to the side.

"I know, I just... I'm starting to think about going back."

His parents exchanged a glance of surprise before they composed themselves again. Cara sighed and paused to think before speaking again.

"It's... Good to hear that you're feeling better about it. But, I still don't think it's a good idea to tell you. You'd probably... Well."

"Well?"

Link waited for his mother to elaborate, but Perry stepped in.

"...You would probably take it personally. Blame yourself."

"...That bad, huh?"

"Link." Cara spoke with that firm yet reassuring tone that she had perfected. "You've needed this time. Your body needed to heal, yes, but so did your soul. You've come a long way since... Then."

Link huffed a silent laugh.

"I suppose. I... Kinda figured out that I might have been holding the machine back from healing me properly."

"...How so?"

"...I think it needs me in there as well to heal up, but I kinda... Ran off. As much as I could." He closed his eyes and breathed shakily, ignoring the rasp from the tank behind. "I... Thought I wanted to die. But, thinking about it? I just wanted life to be better. Maybe I trapped myself here after all."

Link felt one, then two pairs of arms wrap around him. Silently, he thanked the Goddesses for allowing him the time he hadn't realised he needed.

 

* * *

 

Gradually, he broached the subject with those closest to him.

They all supported him, reassured him, helped him work through the last knots in his soul.

Gradually, he acclimatised himself again to the intense feeling of being alive.

After so long without feeling a heartbeat, it was strange, almost annoying.

Gradually... Link thought about the world he had left behind, and the world he would return to.

What was it like? He knew so much had been destroyed, but... Had they been able to rebuild somewhat? He still didn't know how long it had been.

Decades, at least.

He thought of Mipha, and then the rest of the Champions in turn.

It felt odd to be grieving for those he didn't know the fate of, especially when he was like this.

That's what this was. Grieving. Mourning the life they had together then. Even if they were, by some miracle, still alive, they would be changed by it all. They would have their scars like him, like the world.

He wanted to see them again, so desperately. He'd met with old friends, but friends don't substitute each other.

He wanted to hear Mipha's voice again, train with Daruk again, listen to Urbosa's tales again, tease Revali again. He wanted them to be together again, because they made each other better.

And he knew now that he'd been alongside Zelda for lifetimes, but he also knew the ways that made her unique, brand new. He wanted to tell her- tell her that she wasn't a failure, that she could never be. Tell her that she's so much more than a title and a bloodline.

Maybe not tell her that she's the reincarnation of Hylia. That might be a bit much, to begin with at least. And honestly, he didn't care too much for that fact.

...

Mipha was a princess too, maybe, but Hylian royalty was a whole different beast to Zoran royalty. The Zora were an honest people, a fact Link deeply appreciated. Hylian royalty...

Link thought back through the ages. He hadn't been around for the start of the monarchy, and nor had Zelda. Why had it started? He supposed it was okay to begin with - less layers of class, wealth and pretence. The king was friends with his blacksmith grandfather.

And somewhere along the way, the sheen came off. Civil wars, both overt and subtle. The timeline split made for a headache... In one, everything decayed. In one, it stagnated. In the other, it was recreated. What had happened along the way?

...The happiest Zelda's he knew were the ones unburdened with politics and an act to keep up.

She had carried on regardless, keeping up that royal act. She had power, and yet... None.

It takes wisdom to see a way forward.

It takes courage to pursue it.

... Perhaps there was one more person he needed to talk to before he went back.

 

* * *

 

He had asked his father the next time he had seen him. Perry had been surprised at his request, but promised to see what he could do.

It took a while to track King Rhoam down. Link had had suspicions, but his dad had confirmed them: Rhoam was stuck like him. Not in a single room perhaps, but unable to move on. He had likely come to him in desperation, the only person who had been with Zelda that day, the only person who he could talk to about it.

... Link stood by what he had said more or less. He still... Hated what had happened, what he had spearheaded, but time and remembered experience let him think about it more deeply. It let him understand where he had been coming from.

Perhaps he wished he had said it another way but... That had been the first opportunity he had ever had to talk without all the crap that came with it. Now, he thought that being able to talk frankly would do them both good. They both had questions for the other.

...

Even Link could tell it took a long time to find him, and ask him to come back.

He had been stood there with his hand on his body again, feeling his heartbeat, breath, and all the other minute sensations that you get used to and forget, when he felt two presences draw near.

No cleared throats this time. The King remained silent, even while his dad reassured him it was fine, that Link wanted to see him.

Link turned around to see a much different figure than he was expecting.

There was no regalia. Nothing that would signify who he was, had been. Just worn and slightly tattered clothes, the kind a woodsman might wear. Under the hood he wore Link could only just see his eyes, the same eyes as before and yet so different.

The moment stretched on. Rhoam struggled to meet his gaze, looking down at his walking stick that he held.

Link smiled over to his dad in the background.

"Dad, can we... Talk in private?"

Perry nodded, gave a quick word of reassurance to Rhoam, and left through the door he had come.

Alone, Rhoam made no move. It was down to Link, then.

"I see we've both been through some changes since we last spoke."

Rhoam lifted his gaze, as if looking him over, assessing him like a frightened animal. He still said nothing. Link sighed.

"I didn't ask you here just to shout at you again, y'know? I want to talk. You wanted to talk, back then."

"...I-" Rhoam looked like he wanted to curl in on himself. His voice was low and quiet. "I... I'm not sure if I even deserve to speak to you. Not after how I wronged you."

"Hm." Link hadn't expected this, but... "...It was not feeling able to talk that made things so much worse. If you're serious about making amends... Then let's not repeat old mistakes. Talk to me."

Rhoam considered this, before taking down his hood.

"... I'm truly sorry. For everything. I'm not sure how to put it into words... It feels wrong to lament my situation when there are so many that suffered due to... My failings."

Despite himself, Link smiled. The echoes of the past... The repeating pattern.

"... You failed, I failed... A chain of failures, from many people. People screw up, Rhoam. Things happen, despite your best efforts. It's what you do about it that makes the difference."

"... What can I do? I'm-"

"You can stop moping for a start. Just thinking with no doing... That leads to getting stuck. To make amends, you need to keep moving forward."

Dumbstruck, Rhoam stared at Link. It looked he was thinking over Link's words, so Link let the silence be until Rhoam spoke again.

"...I wondered what changes you referred to. I think I can see now... You seem so much older somehow."

"Because I am, in a way." Link couldn't help but feel a little smug about letting Rhoam in on the big secret. "I've remembered a few things about myself... My past lives."

"That's..." Rhoam mouthed a few words as he struggled for what to say. "Does that truly happen? People... live again?"

Link could see why he might fixate on that part of it all.

"When people want to start again... Yeah, they do. Well- I personally don't get too much say on when for me, but... That's part of my whole deal I guess."

It seemed to finally click together for Rhoam.

"... You're... You've been every hero?"

"Uh-huh." Link didn't like to show off normally but... Goddesses, let him have this one time. "Every one. Goddess's chosen and everything. Oh, and that's a whole other thing too... But let's not get distracted."

Link moved closer to Rhoam, conscious of how it emphasised how he was shorter, smaller than the former monarch, but he chose to ignore it.

"You can't make everything better all at once, and you probably won't be able to fix everything. But you can start, and help prevent others from making mistakes like yours. A journey is made from small steps. One thing at a time... And that includes being able to reconcile with yourself."

Link sighed, and a part of his soul stirred, a part that had once been weighed down with so many regrets.

"Trust me Rhoam. I'm speaking from experience here... I know how hard it is."

When Link looked up again, silent tears rolled down Rhoam's face to disappear into his beard, and he looked... Lighter.

"I... Thank you. Thank you for... Taking the time to comfort this old fool."

"It's okay. We're all fools at some point." Link smiled. "Now, why don't you tell me how everything out there is doing? Give me an idea before I go back and finish the job."

Rhoam nodded, wiping a tear from his eye.

"It would be my honour."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What up I cried multiple times as I wrote this and I have no regrets


	9. Chapter 9

Looking down at his body, it looked completely healed. When he felt his lifesigns, they were healthy. He could feel himself being called back whenever he drew near.

Little point in putting it off too much longer.

It was time to say some proper goodbyes before he went back to face whatever round two had in store.

...

Ilia had made him promise to make sure he took breaks, and not wear himself out. It would be kind of stupid if he died of exhaustion after all this, she had said with a glint in her eye.

Saria had been sad to see him go, but they had gone through this cycle loads of times. She knew he would be back in time, and whenever that would be, she would be waiting.

Groose had clapped him on the back, and told him to hurry it up with saving the world so Link could take time for himself, and so that Zelda could too. She really deserves it, he had added.

Darunia, Ruto and Nabooru... They thanked Link for what he had already done for their peoples, and gave Link their blessing in his future endeavours to save them. Medli had chimed in too, thanking him as well as asking him to take care on his journey.

Aryll had hugged him so tight and asked him to remember all the best bits of his journey so he could tell her everything when they met again.

Malon had kissed him, which filled him with both joy and sadness, because he still loved her... But not every lifetime can be shared with everyone you love.

...

Rhoam had dropped in a few times after they had reconciled. He had been watching Hyrule for all these years, and now he could see that the Calamity was regaining strength. Malice had been seeping back into being, the Guardians of old were stirring... And Zelda's seal would not hold forever.

Rhoam had been scouting places and locations for Link - the shrines they had failed to open before couldn't keep out a ghost. They held trials and treasures for those who could open them, something that hopefully Link would find out how to do, when the time came.

...When the time did come, Rhoam had some things prepared to aid Link when he emerged. It was dangerous to go alone, after all.

 

* * *

 

"I probably should stop delaying it."

His parents held back tears as they said their goodbyes. Perry pulled Link into one last embrace.

"You'll be fine... And don't forget to actually live your life, aside from all the... You know."

In this moment, a burning question that Link couldn't ignore surfaced.

"...Will I remember all this?"

Perry paused and looked Link over as he considered it.

"...I don't know. The living normally don't remember death, but... I'm not sure."

Cara chimed in, running a hand over Link's hair.

"Not sure there's any precedent to go off of. I suppose we leave it to the Goddesses... Whatever happens, we'll be watching over you."

Link supposed that's all they could do. He didn't know how he felt about it, but he had no control over it... Better to take it as it came. Keep moving forward.

It was then that the gold of the Goddess brushed his mind.

"...Link... Where are you?"

It stopped Link where he was. He hadn't heard Zelda's voice since... Since he had died.

"Link, please. I can't hold on much longer. Please be out there..."

With a look to his parents, Link reached out with his mind in the direction of the gold.

"...I'm here Zelda. It's so good to hear you again."

The gold flared as it focussed on him, a surge of hope tangible. It was almost blinding.

"Link! What... What happened?! I... Your presence feels strange..."

His parents asked what was going on, and Link just whispered 'Zelda', a expression of excitement and relief on his face.

"I'm... Not quite awake yet. I was just getting ready to go back."

"...Go back? What do you m- oh. Oh Link... You're..."

"I'm fine Zelda. It's okay... I think it's because I'm like this that I can talk back to you."

Link could feel so many mixed emotions through the gold in his mind.

" ...Link, I'm sorry, I-"

"Don't be. You've done amazingly, are doing amazingly... I... I could say so much more but I don't think you would understand... I've learnt some things while I've been asleep."

The princess felt confused at his words, but so overjoyed as well.

"...I missed you Link, you've been asleep for so long. I need you, Hyrule needs you..."

Link smiled.

"I know, the usual. I know what to do."

"...You might not remember when you wake up."

"That's okay. Whatever happens, I'll be okay..." Link's tone grew quiet. "I trust in fate and the Goddesses to guide me."

"... I'll guide you too as best as I can."

"I know."

Here was the moment. It just felt right.

Link cried as he said goodbye to his parents. They had always been with him here, so he hadn't really mourned for them, but the reality bit.

Let's not drag it out further. He might lose his resolve.

"I'm coming, Zelda."

With a deep breath, Link let his form dissolve into embers of soulfire, and returned.

 

* * *

 

At first there was nothing. No thought, no sensation. Just stillness.

And then the gold light touched them. They could see it, feel it, hear it - senses woke up in turn at the light's call.

...Then they could think, and they realised the light was talking to them.

"...Open your eyes."

A body that had slept for so long began to stir. They could feel their heart, something on their skin, they felt gravity and they felt... A dull ache.

They breathed deeply, relishing the feel of air as the light both in their mind and outside blinded them.

"Open your eyes."

The light receded, replaced with dim blue.

"Open your eyes."

The blue took shape of strange patterns they had never seen before.

"Wake up, Link."

Link? That... That was their name.

Liquid ran off their skin as they blinked, adjusting to consciousness. They felt the hard surface under them that much more without the liquid to cushion them, and it was... Uncomfortable.

Looking around to either side, Link pushed through the protests of their body and the stiffness to sit up.

What was this place?

Link was suddenly aware they didn't know much at all.

With little idea of what else to do, they climbed out of where they had woke up, their legs protesting as they stood up.

What did they know? They knew their joints hurt. How long had they been here? Stretching them out came back naturally, as did walking over to look at things in the room.

Slowly, Link could feel a sense of self returning. Their mind buzzed with questions, and disjointed details bubbled through. They would make sense of them as they went, they supposed.

A strange... Thing, lit up in blue beckoned to them and their curiosity. It pulsed as they approached, and the centre of it moved and raised.

The return of the voice made Link jump.

"That is a Sheikah Slate... Take it. It will help guide you after your long slumber."

Who were they to argue with the weird voice in their head? Taking it caused it to light up, showing more patterns and symbols. It was... Honestly, amazing.

The door opened to reveal a new room. Something within them itched to get out of here, and Link practically ran through the doorway. Crates and chests, supplies? There was no way they could see to open the crates, but the chests...

The chests contained only threadbare clothes.

"... Really? Whoever left these could have made some more effort..."

They fit, just. Thin and itchy and short, but it was better than just underwear... They knew that at least.

Another surface beckoned like the one before.

"Hold the Sheikah Slate up to the pedestal. That will show you the way."

Holding it as directed led to the pedestal turning blue as it quietly murmured something like words.

With clunking and grinding, a new door opened - and light poured through.

"Link. You are the light - our light - that must shine upon Hyrule once again. Now, go..."

Did the world really need more light? It was... Beautiful. To feel the sun again left them breathless, and once the voice had faded, Link ran.

Link ran up the steps, through the small pool of water, clambered over the ledge... And looked out onto the world.

It was so big. Some part of them wanted to shout into the horizon, wanted to reach the horizon, wanted to explore.

It was so beautiful and wild and full of life.

It looked like paradise, and Link couldn't wait.

...

Down the hill slightly, an old man sat by a campfire, watching with a smile... Ready to perform his penance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only the epilogue to go folks, thanks for being on Aspen's wild ride


	10. Chapter 10

Calm. Peaceful. They had earned this life by going through hell together, quite honestly.

Hyrule was blossoming, going from strength to strength. Many ruins were left to rest, graves of the old world, but others were resurrected. Hyrule Field was becoming the hub it had been once again instead of a waste.

Link still had memories coming back, even now. It was like, all the pieces had been there, they just needed to be placed into the bigger picture... And that was hard when they were so scattered, and there was so little to work from at first. They found themselves mourning those lost frequently as a memory made the wound fresh.

Tiny things brought the memories back. A similar sentence, a location viewed in a particular light, a sound, a smile... Tiny echoes of the past everywhere they went. Never forgotten... once remembered. Moving onwards, always.

Link missed them all. Mipha, Revali, Urbosa, Daruk, and so many more.

There were others here right now, however, and Link wasn't going to miss out on time with them, miss the future on account of the past.

Sidon, Teba, Riju, Yunobo, Beedle, Paya, Purah, Hudson, the whole of Tarry Town...

Zelda.

"Link, you're staring into space again."

Link shook themselves out of it, turning to see Zelda, sun shining off her now even shorter hair, offering them a waterskin. Oops, yeah, definitely hadn't drunk enough... They took it gratefully and downed almost half of it, earning a look from Zelda.

"What were you thinking about?"

Zelda sat next to Link on the rock, looking out at the all but finished work with a smile.

"Oh, all sorts... I haven't been back to the plateau for a good while."

"Really? It's not like the lack of steps would have stopped you."

"No... I just got busy elsewhere. It's... kinda lonely up there after all."

"Hmm. I suppose it would be..."

The construction worker by the now rebuilt stairway shouted over to them, signifying it was all clear and secure.

Link grinned, that mischievous glint in their eye.

"Well, now I can give you the tour of all the places I got my butt handed to me once I stumbled out of that shrine."

That grin was contagious, and Zelda was beyond saving from it after all this time.

"Spare no stupid details."

 

* * *

 

"That's where I tried to jump the gap and fell into a bokoblin camp... That's where I accidentally set fire to the cover I was using... Over there is where I got jumped by a Talus of all things, maybe don't go there... Oh, that's where I got swarmed by bees!"

"...Link, it's a miracle you survived from the sounds of it."

Link stopped in their tracks, and shrugged exaggeratedly.

"...You know, maybe so."

Zelda just rolled her eyes and strolled past, only to stop dead a moment later.

"Uh, which way up to the temple?"

"This way, up under the broken bridge."

The plateau was as lush as it had been eight years ago, when Link had stumbled out, clothed in rags and with absolutely no clue about anything. The two of them had changed so much in that time, and yet nature was all but the same. Maybe a different surface, but the same soul.

Zelda paused when the temple came into view proper.

"I know it wasn't by any means pristine when the Calamity occurred, but... Goddesses..."

Zelda saw the past in her mind; Link saw both the present and the past overlayed, like a visual echo, the same scene through different eyes. That was how they felt about their life before... There was just a disconnect that stopped them from truly clicking with it all, like there was a gap...

Up the steps they continued, until what would have been a door stood open for them, along with all but the entirety of the left side of the building.

The Goddess statue still loomed at the end, smiling as only stone could.

"...There really isn't much left, is there?"

"...No. I probably salvaged what there was long ago."

She sighed, taking Link's hand as if to ground herself.

"...The glass here was beautiful. On a bright day, it was bathed in colour... Now there's just monochrome marble."

"There's colour all around now, Zelda."

Zelda smiled, holding herself with not the strength of stoicism but that of emotion.

"There is, isn't there?"

Urge to resist cheesy compliment... Waining...

"...Mmm, you know what my favourite colour is? You..."

Zelda scrunched up her face and went bright red.

"Especially when you go as red as that."

"Link, just when I think they can't get any worse-"

"You like 'em really."

"... Against my better judgement..." Zelda gave Link a quick peck on the cheek.

Link just laughed and wandered away, looking down at the pond nearby.

"Oh yeah, that's where someone thought it would be funny to leave a sword in the island there, all tempting looking so I just HAD to go investigate, only for it to be the rustiest, most brittle piece of shit I've ever had the misfortune to see. And the worst bit was - it was almost better than anything else I had."

Zelda burst into laughter.

"You get so offended by rusty weapons..."

"Yeah, you would be if you're desperate for something to protect yourself and all you find is a glorified nail."

They looked out beyond the pond, up the winding slope.

"The Shrine of Resurrection is up that way..."

"No shit."

"Link!"

"You're stating the obvious again, someone needs to call you out on it."

Zelda just glared and jokingly stomped down the way towards it, leaving Link grinning as they trailed behind.

 

* * *

 

It was when they paused in the alcove that Link realised the massive detail they had failed to mention to Zelda.

Namely, the fact that they'd met the ghost of her father... They'd gotten distracted! They had been busy!

This would be awkward.

Zelda looked up from the charred remains of a long dead fire, and saw the look on Link's face.

Goddess dammnit, why were they so bad at a poker face now?

"...Are you okay, Link?"

"Uh."

That sly look on Zelda's face told Link they were in deep shit.

"Go on, spit it out."

"...I forgot to mention a really big thing."

"Such as..."

"...There was a ghost when I came out?"

"What!?" Zelda stood to her full height in an instant, with a look of both surprise, annoyance, and curiosity. "What happened? What were they like?"

"Um. They were really cryptic... And they helped me get my bearings..."

"Did you find out who they were?"

Zelda was in full researcher swing, the gears turning in excitement for Link's first hand account of something rarely documented, and Link was about to throw a spanner in the works.

"Um. I. It... I didn't really realise at first, and it didn't mean much while I had no memory, and then things got crazy-"

"Liiiiink..."

"...It was your dad."

...

Zelda's face suddenly changed, everything swept away.

"Oh."

She sat where the baked apple had once been waiting for them, staring as she processed this.

Link still stood, frozen as they wondered if they had just monumentally messed up.

"...Did he say anything in particular?"

"...Not at first. I think... He was trying to make up in what way he could. He guided me across the entire plateau, taught me about the shrines, showed me how to survive. He asked me to save you... Before he gave me my glider to get down from the plateau."

A tear shined on Zelda's cheek.

"I had wondered where you had got that from... I wonder what he would say if he saw us now?"

Something in the static of unsorted memory in Link's mind surfaced.

"I think he would apologise... For everything."

Something in Zelda's eyes looked far older than her face.

"...I hope so. Everything just... Happened. One thing after another..."

Link thought about it for a moment before they sat where Rhoam had once sat, and held Zelda's hand.

"I think he... Regretted a lot. I didn't see him as a king until the end. He dressed like a woodsman... He said it was a disguise but, part of me thinks he didn't want to be a King."

The hand Link held squeezed tight.

"...That doesn't surprise me. I didn't want to be a Princess."

"...No repeating old mistakes."

Zelda looked at Link with that old gaze again, and Link could somehow tell they mirrored it.

The sat there in silence as the wind rolled over the land.

...

"Link?"

"Yeah?"

"...I forgot to mention something too."

"Go on."

"When you woke up, I spoke to you..."

"Stating the obvious again."

"Shut it, Link. I spoke to you, and you talked back to me before you woke up."

"...I did?"

"Yeah. I think... You were somehow a spirit. You seemed to know things... That I didn't. I was panicking, and you reassured me."

"I... Thought..."

Link looked at the static in the back of their mind again, and now it resolved perfectly, a cascade of things suddenly fitting together as they looked at it in a new way. There was so much, and if one wasn't a dream, then...

"That wasn't a dream then?"

"...no..."

"Oh. That complicates things."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I wrote a lot today and I can't in good conscience keep it from you.  
> Thanks for the ride folks lmao, this is the first multi chap fic I've actually finished (hyperfixation helps but also being able to ramble with friends helps too)  
> Shout outs to Elil/Arga and Elaendorlien for basically proofreading/beta-ing this shit and also allowing me to word vomit, and also Salamencalilypad BC we're mutuals on Tumblr and you don't realise it's me probably lmao. (My URL is hope-punk ;) )
> 
> What's next from me? Well I have a half done self indulgent fic that distracted me a lot lmao, and also while writing this a scene I wanted to include but had to cut ended up budding off into an almost crack fic idea so that's coming. Other than that, I have the structure of my larger fic, Reunion Of Three, pretty much there. This could also be seen as a sort of prequel to that if you were so inclined. And then I could write some for older botw Link Remembering Past Lives... I have too many ideas.
> 
> One thing at a time, keep moving forward~


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